Author of THE UNITY SEQUENCE. Doing the right thing for Alderaan reasons since 2012.
That’s right, folks. The first draft of my second novel, VENUS RISING, is in the bag. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing it, and I can’t wait to go back to the beginning and take my metaphorical red pen to it.
(To those folks who suggest waiting two months before editing: I have not your patience.)
Quick update: I just finished writing chapter eighteen of the first draft of Venus Rising. One more chapter and the epilogue to do, and I’m done!
I should be able to knock those out before we go away for our New Year’s vacation on the 28th, and then it’s editing time. If all goes well, and stars align with my cover designer and editor, we’re looking at publication in April.
Exciting!
Lindsay has a great post on her blog where she gives her views on how indie author-publishers might want to price their books.
Her rationale for pricing a novel happens to be exactly the same as mine, though I’ve never quite managed to express it this succinctly:
“I personally think about $5 per full-length novel is a fair price all around. It gives you far higher per-book earnings than traditionally published authors are receiving (even those whose ebooks are selling for $10+), it gives the readers a deal when compared to most traditionally published ebooks, and it’s often considered a fair price by those who feel that digital books should cost less than the dead-tree variety since paper, ink, and shipping aren’t a part of the equation.
“Lastly, it separates you from the legions of indie authors charging $0.99, $1.99, and $2.99 for their novels (often on the belief that they won’t be able to sell at a higher price because they’re not established names — I started out at $2.99 for just that reason). A lot of readers still walk warily around self-published books, so it can only help if you’re not giving obvious clues that your book was never vetted by a gatekeeper.”
Yup.
Do you like free books? How about ten free books? And what if all of those books were voted ‘Outstanding in Genre’ by Red Adept Select?
If so, you’ll want to enter the ‘Ten Kindle Gems for the Holidays’ giveaway! It’s completely free, and one lucky person will win all ten books, including a copy of ASCENSION POINT.
You can enter via my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dan.harris.writer?sk=app_228910107186452, or through the Red Adept Select site at http://redadeptselect.com/ten-kindle-gems-for-the-holidays.
Best of luck!
I don’t always agree with the advice DWS gives on his blog. And that’s fine–he wouldn’t want me to. He wants writers to think for themselves, make informed decisions, and take control of their careers.
Today’s advice, though, I think is absolutely spot-on. It’s ‘an article on the good stuff and the bad stuff you face in getting to a solid career as a fiction writer‘.
Here are some snippets.
‘Examples (not all by a long ways) of some major myths in 2013 are:
And the paragraph that really resonated with me, because it perfectly chimes with how I feel about writing:
‘The solution to [being in a hurry] is take a deep breath, focus on the writing and learning to write better stories and put the books out either indie or to editors or both and leave them alone. If you get a few buyers, great. If not, no big deal. Trust the audience and the editors to decide when you have graduated to professional-level storytelling.‘
I know ASCENSION POINT is a good book. I wouldn’t have published it otherwise. I had a professional editor tell me what was wrong with it–and there were a lot of things wrong with it. We fixed them.
Is it ‘professional-level storytelling’? Maybe. My readers so far have really enjoyed it. And I’ve got a few buyers, which is great.
Is it the best thing I’ll ever write? Not by a long way. And that’s fine. I want the last thing I ever write–at the age of ninety-two while living in a bubble city on Mars–to be that best thing.
But I’m getting there.
December has rolled around, which means I’ve reached the end of my first month as a published author. As many of you who follow this blog are writers as well as readers, and might be considering taking the self-publishing route yourselves in the future, I thought it might be interesting, and maybe useful, if I shared my sales numbers along with info on what promotion I did to get there.
So, without further ado…
Sales and Earnings
(* How much I’ve earned back so far of the cost of producing the book.)
Now for some caveats:
Promotion
Not a huge amount, to be honest. Here’s a breakdown:
So all told, a decent start to my writing career. I’m very happy, and I’m looking forward to seeing what December brings!
I’m thirteen chapters of twenty into the first draft of my second book, ROGUE. Forty-five thousands words done, probably another twenty-five thousand to go.
It’s a follow-up to ASCENSION POINT, rather than a sequel: it’s set in the same universe, and the events and characters from the first book are referenced–there’s even a cameo or two–but it’s not a direct continuation of the story. (A year has passed between the two books, for one thing.)
The pace of my writing has picked up a bit now that I’m into act three, or ‘the really exciting bit at the end’, as we industry professionals call it. I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to get the draft done before the end of January, even with a couple of weeks off for Christmas and our New Year summer holiday. Then, depending on how long the various edit phases take, I should be ready to publish in April.
Which is only six months after I released ASCENSION POINT, now I think about it. Two books a year? Seems unlikely, but who knows!
Discerning book reviewer of excellent taste, Ms. Melanie Sokol, has just posted the first review of ASCENSION POINT in the history of the internet. If you only have time to read one line, make it the last one: “Ascension Point is a must read.”
I recently got a sample of Dan Harris’s Ascension Point from Amazon.com. I’d always assumed Indie published novels were crap, Harris’s sample proved me wrong. So, I pushed out a preliminary view of the sample about two weeks ago on my blog, “A Preliminary Review: Ascension Point by Dan Harris” and then bought the book ($4.99 on Amazon).
Harris gives a lot of information about his book at his website, dan-harris.net, including a synopsis of Ascension Point and places to buy it.
Ascension Point is science fiction in the “it’s the future” sense of the genre, with the Seryn race, Harris mixes in a bit of fantasy. As I read through the novel, I felt more and more that it was a YA novel. Why? Luc, Neela, Abe, and Ariadne, make up the Chosen, representatives of their races to read the Book of Ascension and achieve enlightenment…
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ASCENSION POINT–or rather, its first two chapters–has received its first review! Our good friend Ms. Sokol found herself intrigued. All should follow her blog, as she is clearly a lady of exquisite taste.
Recently, I stumbled upon Dan Harris’s blog, dan-harris.net, chronicling his journey to become an independently published sci-fi author. I enjoyed his humor and his story and was, therefore, intrigued by his recently published book, Ascension Point. I found his book on Amazon and got the sample sent to my Kindle.
After reading the first two chapters and meeting two of the four main characters, I have decided that once I finish my current book, I’ll buy Ascension Point and do a complete review. Until then, I felt the need and desire to share my thoughts of the first two chapters and explain why I decided to buy the book (even if it will be at a later date).
Harris has a great grasp on understanding how important detail is in his writing. He picks up on a lot of the beauty of his action and his world by…
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And in a couple of weeks, I will be! This afternoon I uploaded the paperback version of ASCENSION POINT to Createspace, which means in the not-too-distant future it’ll be on Amazon alongside the e-book version.
The most exciting part of the whole process for me? Getting the final version of the paperback cover from my designer, the wonderful Stephanie Mooney. And here it is…
DAN HARRIS: 10% SCI, 90% FI 